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[Koh]

Im much much more curious how other publishers will react..... I cant even picture what an Ubi or EA Souls inspired game looks like

Ubisoft formula is the antithesis of a souls game.

I honestly believe bloodborne's success is benefited a tiny bit by the complete oversaturation of the handholding open world. People are hungry for a game that is as much about the player's growth and experience as the character's.

The industry pushed too far in one direction and now we see an underserved population is relatively sizeable.

 

[StrongBlackVine]

Ubisoft formula is the antithesis of a souls game.

I honestly believe bloodborne's success is benefited a tiny bit by the complete oversaturation of the habdholding open world. People are hungry for a game that is as much about the player's growth and experience as the character's.

The industry pushed too far in one direction and now we see an underserved population is relatively sizeable.

I admit to playing games mostly for the story, but I love Bloodborne and I have no idea what is going with the narrative. Might be a fundamental shift for me.

 

[mickcenary]

BloodBorneo.

Crazy Asiatic combat.
Rainforests.
Monkeys.
Giant migratory Australia Spiders/Cthulu monsters.

In all seriousness, though, we'll probably get a sequel, but I think I'd prefer a spiritual successor. As decent a game as it is, I'll forever be angry at Dark Souls 2 for ruining the awesome standalone "Souls-like" run From had going.

At the end of the day, Miyazaki has my undivided attention and unwavering faith. I want his glorious imagination to run wild.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

They signed a multi game contract with Miyazaki and the A-Team? I know I'm right.

Makes a lot of sense, actually. By the time Bloodborne development started Dark Souls would have been on the market for ~6 months, so they'd have had a pretty good idea how the wider Souls series would sell so considering they're probably looking at 2-3 million sales per instalment it would make sense to lay down a contract for one game and the option for sequels if it sells X number of copies.

More thinly veiled or out right blatant exclusive wishing, the polar opposite of port begging.

Wait, so is hoping for a sequel from a third party developer frowned upon now? So can I go into Sunset Overdrive topics and chastise people for hoping MS funds a sequel? Or Forza Horizon 2 topics and say that I'd rather Playground Games declined another and instead made a multiformat racer so I can play it on my PS4 and/or PC? Do you not think you're being a bit unreasonable with this comment?

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Ubisoft formula is the antithesis of a souls game.

I honestly believe bloodborne's success is benefited a tiny bit by the complete oversaturation of the handholding open world. People are hungry for a game that is as much about the player's growth and experience as the character's.

The industry pushed too far in one direction and now we see an underserved population is relatively sizeable.

I agree, and I think that's a big driving force behind recent indie or mid-tier successes like Amnesia, Pillars of Eternity, Cities: Skylines, Elite: Dangerous, Star Citizen and, of course, the Souls games. As the mainstream market becomes more and more homogenised in an effort to exclude no-one, people are looking to these games which don't patronise players, or these games which are throwbacks to old, neglected genres that the big publishers aren't interested in any more.

 

[Zaventem]

In all seriousness, though, we'll probably get a sequel, but I think I'd prefer a spiritual successor. As decent a game as it is, I'll forever be angry at Dark Souls 2 for ruining the awesome standalone "Souls-like" run From had going.

At the end of the day, Miyazaki has my undivided attention and unwavering faith. I want his glorious imagination to run wild.

They can easily make a sequel without latching on to current events, hell it could even keep the name but continue on like FF. Why Dark Souls 2 chose to dick ride the first game so hard with all that backstory of different lands i will never know.

 

[beril]

From and Sony's relationship has always been strong, Bloodborne's success solidifies that. It's not wishful thinking or out of place to say more collaborations between them are coming, it happened before, it will continue to happen, no need to get sour.
Buy a PS4 if you like From Software stuff, it's easy as that.

Why would that be whishful thinking? If there was any justice in the world, FROM would be rolling in enough cash to fund as many Souls-like games they want to without Sony or other publishers.

I don't really care what platform they're on; I did buy a PS4 for bloodborne, and played all the souls games on PS3 (and double dipped on PC). I just don't like seeing FROM going from being an independant publisher to doing more work for hire.

 

[Wynnebeck]

Why would that be whishful thinking? If there was any justice in the world, FROM would be rolling in enough cash to fund as many Souls-like games they want to without Sony or other publishers.

I don't really care what platform they're on; I did buy a PS4 for bloodborne, and played all the souls games on PS3 (and double dipped on PC). I just don't like seeing FROM going from being an independant publisher to doing more work for hire.

FROM was never an independent publisher. They are backed by Kadokawa for pete's sake and had to get Atlus to help publish Demon's Souls in America along with Bamco. Also, if the relationship they have with a platform is strong enough and financially secure, then why is it a problem? Would you fault Quantic Dream for doing busy with Sony or anyone else?

 

[Red Hood]

A decent PC port for Dark Souls would be a start. The Durante fix is glorious, but I'd like to see a, ugh, remastered version for it just like DS2 had one.

Bloodborne in space. Dead Borne.

*Airborne

 

[Auctopus]

I don't want to tease to much, but if your a FS fan PS4 will continue to be your home.

Apologies if you're confirmed insider but isn't this type of post bannable? Especially in the lead up to E3.

 

[TheRagnCajun]

I see the Bloodborne and Souls franchises continuing on in parallel. Bloodborne remaining exclusive, and Souls remaining multi-plat.

 

[aly]

Why would that be whishful thinking? If there was any justice in the world, FROM would be rolling in enough cash to fund as many Souls-like games they want to without Sony or other publishers.

I don't really care what platform they're on; I did buy a PS4 for bloodborne, and played all the souls games on PS3 (and double dipped on PC). I just don't like seeing FROM going from being an independant publisher to doing more work for hire.

They've done this before though. This isn't something new and they aren't even the only ones who do it. How do you think Platinum or smaller companies get by? Someone has to fund these games and it's better to let a bigger company take care of the risk, so why would anyone stop an excellent relationship where that occurs?

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Apologies if you're confirmed insider but isn't this type of post bannable? Especially in the lead up to E3.

In moderation I think it's allowed, but excessive teasing results in a ban.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

I don't want to tease to much, but if your a FS fan PS4 will continue to be your home.

dude

what do you know

great news

 

[beril]

They've done this before though. This isn't something new and they aren't even the only ones who do it. How do you think Platinum or smaller companies get by? Someone has to fund these games and it's better to let a bigger company take care of the risk, so why would anyone stop an excellent relationship where that occurs?

From and Platinum are in a completely different situation and have completely different history. Platinum has always worked for other publishers, and none of their games have been very commercially successful. From has done some games for other publishers, but their core series has always been self published. It made sense for Demon's Souls, being a risky new IP, and their first PS3 game, but after Dark Souls getting bigger success than ever before, one would hope that would be enough to continue on their own, and now that From is owned by Kadokawa, they should have enough financial stability to fund their own development.

 

[Parsnip]

Souls games sure have gone up in popularity between Demon's and Bloodborne.
I can't imagine the next one will be exclusive again, I don't know if Sony could afford that.

 

[theDeeDubs]

Was DS 2 released digitally day one? If so, it doesn't feel like a fair comparison without having those numbers since Bloodborne's includes both physical and digital I think. I know I bought DS2 digitally on both PS3/360 because it was the type of game you'd never resell and would return to often. Still, I'm happy for From.

I hope we get a Dark Souls 1 remix on PS4/XB1 to tide us over until 3 comes out.

 

[beril]

Was DS 2 released digitally day one? If so, it doesn't feel like a fair comparison without having those numbers since Bloodborne's includes both physical and digital I think. Still, I'm happy for From.

I hope we get a Dark Souls 1 remix on PS4/XB1 to tide us over until 3 comes out.

Yes I bought it digitally day one; but the number in the OP does not include Japan or PC sales
And last gen software sales had already started to fall off a cliff.

 

[Gray-Fox]

Would you want them to build on the lore or release a spiritual successor with a different story/environment?

 

[BennyBlanco]

You can't understand why people would want a console exclusive game? A console exclusive, which by it's nature means the developer can worry about just one platform and take advantage of its architecture is something a shareholder would only care about? Oh dear sweetheart.

dear sweetheart,

are you saying bloodborne greatly benefited from focusing on ps4 hardware? the end result is an inconsistent 30 fps with load times that would've been considered bad 6 years ago. it's a very good game and I enjoyed it, but I don't think worrying about one platfrom and taking advantage of it's architecture produced great results here.

do you think dark souls suffered from being a multiplat? do you think bayo 2 benefited from being an exclusive?

signed,
dear sweeheart

 

[Toxi]

How did the Souls games achieve this kind of popularity? I'd love to read an article about that.

Demon's Souls sold poorly in Japan, but became a surprise hit worldwide thanks to good word of mouth. Dark Souls had a lot of hype riding off the good will of Demon's Souls and some actual advertising muscle, and when it came out everyone threw praise at it. Then the DLC/PC version came out a year later and everyone went bananas. Dark Souls 2 got a much bigger advertising push and some actual effort thrown at the PC port and the series grew bigger. Then Bloodborne was hyped at E3 and by Sony as a huge exclusive for a system people were wanting great exclusives for.

It's hilarious comparing that old 27/40 Famitsu score for Demon's Souls to the lavish praise the series has received since then.

 

[Etnos]

Im much much more curious how other publishers will react..... I cant even picture what an Ubi or EA Souls inspired game looks like

Souls games are still niche, I don't see the 3 big publishers (EA,Ubi, Activision) )investing in clones... 1 mill / +20 mill install base not that awesome, GTAV just sold more than 1mill in one day on PC

Also is not that there are a lot of PS4's exclusive AAA titles, or AAA titles at all competing with Bloodborne right now.

 

[Toxi]

Souls games are still niche, I don't see the 3 big publishers (EA,Ubi, Activision) )investing in clones... 1 mill / +20 mill install base not that awesome, GTAV just sold more than 1mill in one day on PC

Everything looks niche when you compare it to Grand Theft Auto V.

 

[Mr Git]

I think it's quite telling that Bloodborne didn't realise with a season pass, which is fairly rare these days. I presume (and hope) there'll be an Artorias size expansion somewhere down the line.

 

[Toxi]

I think it's quite telling that Bloodborne didn't realise with a season pass, which is fairly rare these days. I presume (and hope) there'll be an Artorias size expansion somewhere down the line.

I'd be happy even with some Dark Souls 2 level DLC.

 

[beril]

Demon's Souls sold poorly in Japan, but became a surprise hit worldwide thanks to good word of mouth. Dark Souls had a lot of hype riding off the good will of Demon's Souls and some actual advertising muscle, and when it came out everyone threw praise at it. Then the DLC/PC version came out a year later and everyone went bananas. Dark Souls 2 got a much bigger advertising push and some actual effort thrown at the PC port and the series grew bigger. Then Bloodborne was hyped at E3 and by Sony as a huge exclusive for a system people were wanting great exclusives for.

It's hilarious comparing that old 27/40 Famitsu score for Demon's Souls to the lavish praise the series has received since then.

Demon's Souls didn't really sell bad in japan either. It was slow out of the gate because it was unknown and the preview impressions were poor, but with the budget rerelease it did over 230k. That puts it as one of the top first party PS3 games

 

[Alo0oy]

dear sweetheart,

are you saying bloodborne greatly benefited from focusing on ps4 hardware? the end result is an inconsistent 30 fps with load times that would've been considered bad 6 years ago. it's a very good game and I enjoyed it, but I don't think worrying about one platfrom and taking advantage of it's architecture produced great results here.

do you think dark souls suffered from being a multiplat? do you think bayo 2 benefited from being an exclusive?

signed,
dear sweeheart

You seem to be confusing what developers and publishers do.

Developers get paid money by the publishers to work on a game, they use that money to pay their staff salaries & incentives, every single game needs a publisher, most of the time the publisher is a big third party publisher, but sometimes the publisher is a platform holder, in that case the game will most definitely be exclusive.

The case with Bloodborne is exactly the same as Heavy Rain, Forza Horizon, Ratchet & Clank, or Alan Wake. & it's no different than Destiny, Dark Souls, or Star Ocean. The only difference between the former examples & the latter is the publisher that funded the game's development & marketing.

I noticed that a lot of people on GAF don't understand the relationship between developers & publishers & how they work.

What's next for FROM software? Look for a publisher to publish their next game, that's what every single developer does after finishing their project, they either pitch their project to different publishers, or publishers contact them to do a project, & in a lot of cases that are unpleasant to some people, the publisher is Sony or Microsoft, could the publisher have been Ubisoft or SE for example? Yes, but FROM software relies on publishers to pay their staff & fund their projects, they don't tell Sony or Microsoft "No, we won't do a project for you because someone doesn't like it, we'll go ask Ubisoft to publish our game even though we run the risk of Ubisoft declining and/or sabotaging our vision".

 

[Rurunaki]

I think a lot of people look at From Soft and think they're pro-Sony. If you look at their portfolio, they made Xbox exclusives as well such as Ninja Blade and Chromehounds. As far as we know Bamco will always have publishing rights for Dark Souls (contract most likely), and Sony with Bloodborne (owns IP). If MS wanted a Souls type game, then they only need to approach From Software/Kadokawa for it.

 

[Primethius]

dear sweetheart,

are you saying bloodborne greatly benefited from focusing on ps4 hardware? the end result is an inconsistent 30 fps with load times that would've been considered bad 6 years ago. it's a very good game and I enjoyed it, but I don't think worrying about one platfrom and taking advantage of it's architecture produced great results here.

do you think dark souls suffered from being a multiplat? do you think bayo 2 benefited from being an exclusive?

signed,
dear sweeheart

Just on the tech side of things (because I have no idea what the quality drop-off last half of DS1 was a result of), aren't you forgetting Blighttown?

And the game has pretty consistent 30 FPS, it has a frame pacing issue.

So yes, I don't think you actually stated anything that goes against single-platform development.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

I think a lot of people look at From Soft and think they're pro-Sony. If you look at their portfolio, they made Xbox exclusives as well such as Ninja Blade and Chromehounds. As far as we know Bamco will always have publishing rights for Dark Souls (contract most likely), and Sony with Bloodborne (owns IP). If MS wanted a Souls type game, then they only need to approach From Software/Kadokawa for it.

Very different time. Back then, Microsoft was aggressively pursuing Japanese developer support AND though niche, some people actually owned a 360 in Japan.

 

[Odrion]

are you saying bloodborne greatly benefited from focusing on ps4 hardware?

bloodborne is one of the best looking games of this console generation so far, so yes.

 

[beril]

You seem to be confusing what developers and publishers do.

Developers get paid money by the publishers to work on a game, they use that money to pay their staff salaries & incentives, every single game needs a publisher, most of the time the publisher is a big third party publisher, but sometimes the publisher is a platform holder, in that case the game will most definitely be exclusive.

The case with Bloodborne is exactly the same as Heavy Rain, Forza Horizon, Ratchet & Clank, or Alan Wake. & it's no different than Destiny, Dark Souls, or Star Ocean. The only difference between the former examples & the latter is the publisher that funded the game's development & marketing.

I noticed that a lot of people on GAF don't understand the relationship between developers & publishers & how they work.

What's next for FROM software? Look for a publisher to publish their next game, that's what every single developer does after finishing their project, they either pitch their project to different publishers, or publishers contact them to do a project, & in a lot of cases that are unpleasant to some people, the publisher is Sony or Microsoft, could the publisher have been Ubisoft or SE for example? Yes, but FROM software relies on publishers to pay their staff & fund their projects, they don't tell Sony or Microsoft "No, we won't do a project for you because someone doesn't like it, we'll go ask Ubisoft to publish our game even though we run the risk of Ubisoft declining and/or sabotaging our vision".

You're forgetting that Fromsoftware is also a publisher, that has been self-publishing games since the PS1 era, and now they're owned by a larger publisher. It's not really clear if or how much Namco helped fund Dark Souls 1&2, but From published it themselves in Japan, and owns the IP.

They have sometimes worked for other publishers in the past, but with their recent success and with the backing of a rich parent company, you'd hope that they'd be able to work more independently and not need to work for another publisher again.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

I don't want to tease to much, but if your a FS fan PS4 will continue to be your home.

Expected honestly. FS is not a big company and Shu is in love with those guys and is likely willing to mitigate a lot of the risk involved with each release and allows FS to focus on one platform. Plus globally PS4 just makes more sense for FS. The only other platform that would give them similar penetration would be PC, but Valve has no interest playing the role Sony currently is.

 

[Alo0oy]

You're forgetting that Fromsoftware is also a publisher, that has been self-publishing games since the PS1 era, and now they're owned by a larger publisher. It's not really clear if or how much Namco helped fund Dark Souls 1&2, but From published it themselves in Japan, and owns the IP.

They have sometimes worked for other publishers in the past, but with their recent success and with the backing of a rich parent company, you'd hope that they'd be able to work more independently and not need to work for another publisher again.

FROM software was not a big enough publisher to publish a game like Bloodborne, which is the reason they only published Dark Souls in Japan & let Bamco publish it WW, & they don't have anywhere near the resources to give it the same marketing push Sony gave it for example.

Although you're right about FROM software being owned by Kadokawa now, which is a very big media company, & Kadokawa will most likely publish most of their games, although that doesn't mean they will publish all their games, sometimes it's easier to let another publisher publish your games if that publisher would give you better returns (See Sony publishing Destiny & SE publishing Call of Duty in Japan, it's better for Activision to let a japanese company publish their games in Japan, sure they'll get a cut out of the game, but it will have a better chance of success due to Sony/SE's presence in the region).

I still expect Kadokawa to publish 90% of their games though.

 

[beril]

FROM software was not a big enough publisher to publish a game like Bloodborne, & they don't have anywhere near the resources to give it the same marketing push Sony gave it for example.

Although you're right about FROM software being owned by Kadokawa now, which is a very big media company, & Kadokawa will most likely publish most of their games, although that doesn't mean they will publish all their games, sometimes it's easier to let another publisher publish your games if that publisher would give you better returns (See Sony publishing Destiny & SE publishing Call of Duty in Japan, it's better for Activision to let a japanese company publish their games in Japan, sure they'll get a cut out of the game, but it will have a better chance of success due to Sony/SE's presence in the region).

I still expect Kadokawa to publish 90% of their games though.

They were big enough to publish Dark Souls, so I don't see why not (though again, no one really knows if/how much Namco helped with funding). They might not have been big enough to fund two such games at once though, which is probably the reason we got Bloodborne from Sony, but that should have changed with the Kadokawa acquisition.

And yes teaming up with another publisher for international distribution can be a good idea; but that's completely different from getting full funding from a publisher and relinquishing ownership.

 

[PoweredByHentai]

Demon's Souls sold poorly in Japan, but became a surprise hit worldwide thanks to good word of mouth. Dark Souls had a lot of hype riding off the good will of Demon's Souls and some actual advertising muscle, and when it came out everyone threw praise at it. Then the DLC/PC version came out a year later and everyone went bananas. Dark Souls 2 got a much bigger advertising push and some actual effort thrown at the PC port and the series grew bigger. Then Bloodborne was hyped at E3 and by Sony as a huge exclusive for a system people were wanting great exclusives for.

It's hilarious comparing that old 27/40 Famitsu score for Demon's Souls to the lavish praise the series has received since then.

Demon's Souls sold decently in its release week in Japan. It had a much better post release to tail end sales though, something like 130k total for Japan by the end of the year, IIRC.

Demon's Souls has sold over 10 times that number by the time Bloodborne came out (something like 1.7 million total worldwide).

Bloodborne being a spiritual and evolutionary successor to Demon's Souls makes sense in this context.

 

[Alo0oy]

They were big enough to publish Dark Souls, so I don't see why not (though again, no one really knows if/how much Namco helped with funding). They might not have been big enough to fund two such games at once though, which is probably the reason we got Bloodborne from Sony, but that should have changed with the Kadokawa acquisition.

And yes teaming up with another publisher for international distribution can be a good idea; but that's completely different from getting full funding from a publisher and relinquishing ownership.

They didn't publish Dark Souls, they only published it in Japan, if they had the funds to publish it WW, they would have done so instead of letting Bamco take a big chunk of the profit for no reason.

& about your second point, full funding can still happen even if the developer is owned by a big publisher, there's no better recent example than Star Oceans Tri-Ace is owned by a big publisher, yet they're still making a game fully funded by SE, meanwhile, Nepro gets paid all the costs of keeping Tri-Ace running and more.

 

[Alo0oy]

Demon's Souls sold decently in its release week in Japan. It had a much better post release to tail end sales though, something like 130k total for Japan by the end of the year, IIRC.

Demon's Souls has sold over 10 times that number by the time Bloodborne came out (something like 1.7 million total worldwide).

Bloodborne being a spiritual and evolutionary successor to Demon's Souls makes sense in this context.

Yeah, Demon's Souls sold only slightly worse than Dark Souls despite being an exclusive, I don't know where this narrative that Demon's Souls bombed comes from, if it didn't sell nobody would fund a "spiritual successor" to it.

 

[Kurtofan]

I want moar

 

[beril]

Demon's Souls sold decently in its release week in Japan. It had a much better post release to tail end sales though, something like 130k total for Japan by the end of the year, IIRC.

Demon's Souls has sold over 10 times that number by the time Bloodborne came out (something like 1.7 million total worldwide).

Bloodborne being a spiritual and evolutionary successor to Demon's Souls makes sense in this context.

Actually I was just trying to find Demon's Souls sales numbers myself, and the 1.7 mentioned on wikipedia seems a bit dubious. The "sales estimates" in the sourced article looked awfully much like Chartz numbers.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Goddamnit Bruce the internet cannot handle the amount of salt this would cause. Petitions will be made.

LMAO I just realized the computer bluescreens at the end of this GIF

 

[Kinthalis]

Not sure there's much to compare here at all. Not only due early numbers not take PC sales into account, BUT and this is a big one, the marketing for Bloodborne wa son another level from any of the souls games.

There were ads everywhere for that game.

 

[Primethius]

Actually I was just trying to find Demon's Souls sales numbers myself, and the 1.7 mentioned on wikipedia seems a bit dubious. The "sales estimates" in the sourced article looked awfully much like Chartz numbers.

Yea, the wikipedia source seems pretty iffy. Mentions sales estimates but not much else, so it seems like it's using Chartz numbers.

 

[PoweredByHentai]

FROM software was not a big enough publisher to publish a game like Bloodborne, which is the reason they only published Dark Souls in Japan & let Bamco publish it WW, & they don't have anywhere near the resources to give it the same marketing push Sony gave it for example.

Although you're right about FROM software being owned by Kadokawa now, which is a very big media company, & Kadokawa will most likely publish most of their games, although that doesn't mean they will publish all their games, sometimes it's easier to let another publisher publish your games if that publisher would give you better returns (See Sony publishing Destiny & SE publishing Call of Duty in Japan, it's better for Activision to let a japanese company publish their games in Japan, sure they'll get a cut out of the game, but it will have a better chance of success due to Sony/SE's presence in the region).

I still expect Kadokawa to publish 90% of their games though.

Kadokawa is apparently opening up an office or something in San Francisco. This was what the staff at Kinokuniya Los Angeles were told straight from the horse's mouth.

I don't know if Kadokawa will eventually publish their own games or if the new US office is to handle their manga and anime publication. They were trying to push for KanColle in the US but that was last year.

 

[Alo0oy]

Kadokawa is apparently opening up an office or something in San Francisco. This was what the staff at Kinokuniya Los Angeles were told straight from the horse's mouth.

I don't know if Kadokawa will eventually publish their own games or if the new US office is to handle their manga and anime publication. They were trying to push for KanColle in the US but that was last year.

Interesting, so they might actually publish Dark Souls 3.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Dark Souls 2 had bad sales because it was last gen only. At that time last gen sales had started to fall off the cliff.

 

[tokilamockingbrd]

Souls games are still niche, I don't see the 3 big publishers (EA,Ubi, Activision) )investing in clones... 1 mill / +20 mill install base not that awesome, GTAV just sold more than 1mill in one day on PC

Also is not that there are a lot of PS4's exclusive AAA titles, or AAA titles at all competing with Bloodborne right now.

niche, oh really.... . 1 million 1st week is better than any other exlcusives this Gen. In fact its more than many other "non-niche" exclusives combined.

It outsold Titanfall over the same period on the XB1, and I need to recheck but it might have out performed what Titanfall did on all 3 systems over the same period.

FPS genre is the complete opposite of niche.

 

[To Far Away Times]

Install base matters somewhat, but it's not the end all be all. IIRC, Final Fantasy X outsold XII. Total consoles sold didn't play much into that.

In Bloodborne's case, it's not like the PS4 is drowning in high quality exclusive games so Bloodborne got elevated a bit.

There are early generation software advantages as well.

 

[Alo0oy]

niche, oh really.... . 1 million 1st week is better than any other exlcusives this Gen. In fact its more than many other "non-niche" exclusives combined.

It outsold Titanfall over the same period on the XB1, and I need to recheck but it might have out performed what Titanfall did on all 3 systems over the same period.

FPS genre is the complete opposite of niche.

Incorrect, Titanfall did over a million on NPD on XB1.

 

[PoweredByHentai]

Yeah, Demon's Souls sold only slightly worse than Dark Souls despite being an exclusive, I don't know where this narrative that Demon's Souls bombed comes from, if it didn't sell nobody would fund a "spiritual successor" to it.

The reason for the "bombed" narrative was because it was in development for something like 5 years; 2 or 3 of which were development hell before Miyazaki took over the project. Since SCEJ was funding its development, it didn't break even on release week, hence the narrative.

Actually I was just trying to find Demon's Souls sales numbers myself, and the 1.7 mentioned on wikipedia seems a bit dubious. The "sales estimates" in the sourced article looked awfully much like Chartz numbers.

Ah, is that so? I'm currently on my phone because I'm at work so I may be wrong with the numbers.